Thursday, April 19, 2012

Local filmmakers in Greenville International Film Festival

Inaugural year of fest takes place April 25-28

It'll be about a full year before there's another film festival with "Charleston" in the title, but if you're up for a three-hour drive, the Upstate's now has its own fest.

The Greenville International Film Festival, whose first go-round takes place April 25-28, 2012, will screen 50 independent films from around the world, including Wrench from Charleston filmmakers James Edward Tilden and Barret B. Burlage, who, along with Travis Hollifield, run Terrible Parrot Films.

"It is great to have the GVIFF set up shop in the Upstate," Tilden and Burlage tell us. "Now a new South Carolina community will have the opportunity to enjoy films from all over and honor their indie film residents. Plus Greenville is awesome."

Another film by the men, My Sister Sam, recently played at the Sottile Theatre as part of the Charleston International Film Festival earlier this month; they've participated in CIFF for the last three years, watching it get better and better each time. But since they were still working on a final edit of My Sister Sam during the GVIFF submission process, they decided to submit Wrench, which played at CIFF in 2009. The short is a dark comedy about a man, desperately searching for a way out of his mind-numbing 9-to-5 job, who answers an internet ad.

"Greenville is a cool town with a strong arts community, and they deserve a solid film festival," the Terrible Parrot guys say, and they're looking forward to making connections with Upstate filmmakers. "Both the Upstate and Lowcountry have great beauty in their landscapes, and being able to collaborate with new people in these locations is enticing for all involved. We know that the promoters of GVIFF have worked hard to get this thing off the ground, we're just excited to be a part of it."